Halloween and Cowboy Chicken

This blog post is kicking my ass and I have yet to begun writing anything substantial. In my defense: I’m sleep deprived, I just received some big family news and I have a massive Halloween party that begins in a mere 19 hours so Ha Jin is not really on my list of priorities. But don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed the required readings and plan to read the entire collection when time allows.

So as for problems relating to writing in Chinese for the Chinese vs. writing in English the biggest issue Ha Jin seemed to run into is the censoring in China. After a little time spent with Google I came across a few articles in which Ha Jin describes working with Chinese publishers and separate departments that concentrate on monitoring artistic works. He never seemed to have much luck getting his work out to the Chinese audiences he was focused on. In an online article I stumbled upon he discusses the difficulty within the Chinese film industry:

“In the West, contemporary Chinese movies are quite popular, but not many of us know that the movies we can see are not always available to the Chinese. The list of banned movies is long: To Live, The Blue Kite, Farewell to My Concubine, Bitter Love, Devils on the Doorstep. Even Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain is classified as unsuitable for the general audience in China. His new film, Lust, Caution, has been criticized by some officials, but thanks to Ang Lee’s international reputation, few of them have condemned him publicly. Instead, Tang Wei, the leading actress in the movie, has been prohibited from making public appearances and from joining the casts of new movies. For filmmakers, a banned movie means a huge business loss and more difficulties in finding sponsorship for their next project. It would be suicidal to make two banned movies in a row, so filmmakers have to toe the line. This is the main reason most Chinese movies lack depth and complexity—they’re hamstrung at the outset by directors and producers having to worry about whether the final product will pass the censors.” (the entire article can be found at http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-censor-in-the-mirror/)

He then goes on to stay that “the authorities are more subtle in controlling book publishing.” He illustrates with an example of the banning of Yan Lianke’s Serve the People! “The authorities criticized the novella as “vilifying Chairman Mao, the People’s Liberation Army, and the revolution through excessive sexual descriptions,” so “it confuses people’s minds and disseminates Western ideas.”

After these speed bumps in Ha Jin’s writing career in China it would only make sense that he would use the Western world as an outlet to get his works out there. Quite fortunately for us English speakers, we are introduced to his ways of thinking and expressing. I couldn’t help but notice the way his characters hit fairly close to home. The Tiger Fighter to me seemed like any of our reality tv stars that will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. The employees of Cowboy Chicken weren’t too different from many over here, they wanted compensation for work they weren’t doing.

I feel that if both Conrad and Ha Jin had written in their native languages we wouldn’t have been exposed to them at all. At least not the way they were originally meant to have been presented. Take the Bible for instance, so much has been lost in translation that everyone has their own interpretation. But since Joseph Conrad and Ha Jin so kindly wrote for an English speaking audience we get a faint glimpse of the world they knew and those that take advantage of this privilege are all the wiser for it.

Now for some self indulgent advertising: Halloween Party/Charity Event takes place on October 30th at approximately 9:00 PM. Prizes for best costumes: male, female, duo and group. Loads of food and beverages all in the name of Charity. (Trick or Treat for UNICEF program) Should be fun. If anyone has interest in attending feel free to email me @ kristinadawn27@gmail.com